Long known as an uncharismatic backroom
wheeler-dealer, Michel Temer inherits a shrinking economy, a Zika virus outbreak​ that has ravaged poor northeastern states and political instability
fed by a sprawling corruption probe that has tarred much of the country’s
political and business elite - himself included.

So far he’s struggled in the nearly four
months he’s served as interim president following Rousseff’s May impeachment,
which suspended her from office while a final trial was prepared. The Senate’s 61-20
vote on Wednesday to permanently remove her means Temer, who had been her vice
president, will now serve out her term, which ends in late 2018.

Just hours after Rousseff was removed,
Temer assured the nation his administration was up to the task.

Temer said he planned to attend the G20
meetings in China this weekend, mentioning bilateral meetings that leaders from
Spain, Japan, Italy and Saudi Arabia have already requested.

“We are traveling to show the world
that we have political and legal stability,” he said. “We have to
show that there is hope in the country.”

Whether Temer can convince Brazilians
that he is worth a real shot is unclear.

He appeared tone-deaf with his first
move in May: appointing an entirely white, male Cabinet to oversee a nation of
200 million people where more than 50 percent identify as black or mixed-race.

Three of Temer’s ministers had to quit
within days of being named because of corruption allegations. And so far he has
struggled to build consensus around key reforms, such as slimming the country’s
pension system.

Government ministers are promising
progress now that “interim” is no longer part of Temer’s title.

“With the end of the interim period
and a vote of more than 60 senators, the investors will start bringing jobs
again,” said Cabinet chief Eliseu Padilha.

So far that message hasn’t resonated
with most Brazilians, however. Just 14 percent said they approved of Temer’s
performance in a July poll by Datafolha. On the flip side, 62 percent said they
wanted new elections to resolve the crisis. The poll interviewed 2,792 people
July 14-15 and had a 2 percentage point margin of error.

New elections would first require that
Temer resign, which he has no intention of doing.

The son of Lebanese immigrants, the
75-year-old Temer quietly rose through Brazil’s political ranks, building a
reputation as a negotiator who could forge deals among political rivals. His
reserved manner earned him the nickname the “Butler.” The only thing
flashy about him is his wife, 32-year-old Marcela Temer, an ex-beauty pageant
contestant who tattooed Temer’s name on her neck.

As a leader of the country’s biggest
party, the ideologically flexible Brazilian Democratic Party Movement, Temer
won election as head of the lower house of Congress for nearly a decade.

A political marriage of convenience led
the leftist Rousseff to choose the Sao Paulo congressman as her vice
presidential running mate in 2010. Their formal if frosty relationship endured
as the country continued a decade and a half-long boom.

But by the time the pair was re-elected
in 2014, the economy began to unravel and street protests erupted.

Prosecutors and judges uncovered a web
of billions of dollars of kickbacks at the state oil giant Petrobras. The
two-year probe has ensnared dozens of businessmen and politicians across the
political spectrum.

Although Rousseff has never been
personally implicated, many blame her for the graft because much of it happened
while her party was in power. Temer, on the other hand, has been directly
implicated: In a plea bargain, former Sen. Sergio Machado said that Temer asked
him to channel $400,000 in Petrobras kickbacks to 2012 Sao Paulo mayoral
candidate in Temer’s party. Temer denies wrongdoing and has not been charged.

Temer also is banned from running for
office the next eight years because Sao Paulo’s electoral court found him
guilty of violating campaign spending laws in 2014.

Those things add to vehement opposition
from Rousseff and her backers, who brand him a “usurper” and say he
was brought into office to help squelch the corruption probe and restore the
authority the country’s elite.

“They think that they beat us, but
they are wrong,” said Rousseff on Wednesday in her first remarks after
being removed from office.

Late Wednesday night, a group of unhappy
Rousseff supporters smashed windows of bank branches, other businesses and a
police SUV in the city of Sao Paulo. Anti-riot police tried to quell the
demonstration with stun grenades and tear gas.

“Temer’s party
is the biggest in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate. That alone makes
an impeachment process unlikely,” said Jose Luiz Niemeyer, a professor of
international relations at Ibmec, a Rio-based university.